How To Make A Marine Speechless
by fananicfan
Summary: Harm and Mac have been assigned to prosecute a high profile murder case at the morning staff meeting, but they manage to get something else out of it.
1. Chapter 1

How To Make A Marine Speechless

TIME LINE: Season ten, right after the Christmas Eve episode when it looked like they might get together.

SYNOPSIS: Harm and Mac have been assigned to prosecute a high profile murder case at the morning staff meeting.

DISCLAIMER: Don't own them, but I like to put them in a story as often as I can.

How To Make A Marine Speechless

JAG HQ

MID MORNING

Mac's office door was open, and Harm could see the part in her hair over the top of her computer monitor just before she whacked it in the side.

Harm rapped on the door frame of Mac's office once to let her know that someone was there so she wouldn't beat the computer senseless before he spoke. "I hear it works better if you put your arms around it," he says as he enters her office, stopping in front of her desk.

She looks up at him with an odd expression.

"Computers need love, too, I guess," he offers in explanation. Truth is, he was in need of a little love these days, especially if it came from one Sarah MacKenzie.

"A statement like that tells me that you've been spending either too much time with Bud or too much time alone," Mac said, more than a little annoyed before she took a breath. She'd be really upset if he just didn't look so handsome, standing there in front of her desk.

"Maybe a little bit of both," Harm replied sadly.

Mac felt uncomfortable with the sadness in Harm's tone and directed the conversation back to the purpose of him being here. "So, tell me. Did you stop by here to give me some useful information or do you need something? I think I'll be here all night trying to do that research on our case because my computer is running so slow that I don't think I'm going to get it done before morning."

"I actually came in here to tell you about your computer. I didn't know that I was going to be saving you from being charged with destruction of government property in the process, though," Harm said in reference to the whack that he'd seen her give her monitor. "Bud told me to pass along the information that the general was informed that, because of an unexpected high usage demand on our system, the computers will be slow and nearly impossible to get information from in a timely fashion. Bud's been asked to coordinate with some IT types to try to resolve the issue. In the meantime, the general suggested that, "Those of us who have several weeks to prepare our case, we do things the old fashion way and resort to reading law books...those things with pages that can be found in the law library." That's a direct quote, according to Bud. And, by those of us who can, doing so ought to cause less of a demand on the system, so those with court dates sooner will hopefully have an easier time getting their information.

"Well, the case he handed us this morning to work against Turner and Mayfield is three weeks away, but it isn't my only case."

"I know. It isn't my only case either."

"But the case we just got is high-profile, and we need to start working on our case as soon as possible so that we'll be ready. We can't wait for them to get the computers back up to speed." Mac let out a sigh. "Along with this cheery news about the computer..." she says as she smacks the top of her monitor's case "...do you have a suggestion as to how we should get all our case work done?"

"I didn't come in with one, but I've come up with one while we've been talking. It's a two-part plan."

Mac looks at Harm with one eyebrow elevated.

A smile starts to form at the corners of Harm's mouth. 'Mac's trying to impersonate one of his looks. How flattering?' he thinks.

"We go to lunch."

Before Harm could impart part two of his plan to her, she interrupts, standing as she speaks. "How is going to lunch - taking time out of the office going to help us? I think I'll go get a cup of coffee and start the caffeine rush for an all-nighter at the office."

Harm found himself looking into her eyes as Mac spoke. Her eyes seemed to be a darker brown, but with amber specks, which the fluorescent lights played on, making her eyes sparkle. He was so caught up in his thoughts about her eyes that it took him a moment to realize that she'd stop talking.

"You didn't let me finish. I said there were two parts. The second part is that you and I come back after everyone else secures for the day. If only you and I are in the office using the computers, it should be faster, and if they aren't, we'll have the law library to ourselves."

"I like that plan. When can you get away?"

"I've got a deposition in ten minutes. I can go after that if you don't have anything."

"I'm clear for the rest of the afternoon. I'll work on my opening argument for my case that starts day after tomorrow while you're doing your deposition."

"Then, I'll let you know when I'm done so we can go to lunch."

"You're buying, right?" Now it was Harm's turn to use the cocked eyebrow expression. She'd sure missed seeing his face around the office while he'd been with the CIA, even if she had denied it to anyone who'd asked. "Well, you asked me to lunch, so you should pay," Mac explained.

"Fine, I'm buying."

"Then you can also pick the restaurant."

"Why, Marine, that's so generous of you that it leaves this sailor speechless."

The wattage of Mac's smile increases. "Jealous that you can't make this Marine speechless?"

"Oh, I know how to make you speechless," he said as he started backing out of her office.

"Sure you do, and to prove it, you can tell me how over our extended lunch."

"Oh, I don't think so. I think that's more of a dinner conversation."

"Before I agree to have dinner with you...we'll see how lunch goes first."

Was Mac flitting with him? It wasn't that he minded, but he really needed to know for sure if she was, so he'd know if it was okay to start flirting back. Maybe he could start to make some progress towards a more intimate relationship with his Marine. It wasn't something that he could just ask, especially at the office. 'Hey, are we back to using innuendo, suggestive looks and tones to show interest?' Yeah, definitely not a conversation for the office. Having reached the doorway, Harm's response was to offer a wave goodbye as he exited her office for his own.

Mac grinned in satisfaction at having left the great orator in court, speechless. It was kind of fun. She might have to try to do it more often.

TWO WEEKS LATER

Harm's Apartment

Living Room

Harm and Mac were sitting on opposite ends of Harm's sofa with stacks of papers and open law books covering the space between them on the couch, part of the coffee table and the floor. They were working on their case. They had only a week left before the trial began. They needed to make sure that they were ready.

"We've been at this..." Harm turned his wrist over to look at his watch.

"Four hours and eleven minutes," Mac said before Harm even got his arm completely around to view his watch.

"Why do I bother trying to look at my watch when you're around?"

"I don't know. My personal theory would be that you got used to not having me around. We haven't been spending even half as much time together as we did before we took turns playing spy."

"I say we change that."

"You mean, spend more time together?" Mac asked, wanting to make sure of exactly what he meant.

"Yes..." Harm says before lifting his note pad and the file folder off the coffee table. "...and not only when work dictates that we should."

"I'd like that." Mac says before she offers him a warm smile. Her smile starts to disappear, which concerns Harm, but he needn't have worried. She'd come up with a plan of her own and was just mustering the courage to ask him to go along. "In fact, it's 2129. We've put in a full day at the office and half a work day here. I say we order a pizza and, when it arrives, we take a break from working on this case."

"You buying?"

"I asked, so yeah, I'm buying."

"I don't have to eat a meat lover's pizza, do I?"

"No, we can go halves...or order two."

"Halves is fine. Only Mattie would eat leftover meat pizza, and I'm not expecting her to visit any time soon."

"Well, you did say that we should start spending more time together, and leftover pizza in your fridge would be a good reason for me to come over."

"Mac, you don't need to have a reason to come here. You're welcome here any time."

"Thank you," Mac replied. She had to say something. She didn't want him to think that his statement had left her speechless. However, she had to admit to herself that the way he'd been looking at her when he'd said it had her heart beating a little faster.

Harm caught himself doing it again. He was staring at her. He needed to stop doing that before he made her uncomfortable, and she didn't want to be within fifty feet of him. Since Christmas Eve, they hadn't talked about any of the reasons why they hadn't been talking before her accident, but things were definitely improving between them. He needed to be patient and let things happen without rushing it...whatever "it" was going to be for them. He knew that he was in love with her. He just hoped that "it" wasn't always going to be shared pizza between friends. Though, he didn't mind if that's how "it" started.

"I'll call for the pizza while you look for the People V Miller case..." he said as he stood "...in this mess."

"Okay, but are you sure that it's the one most pertinent to this case? I thought we should use People V Matthews."

He turns around, having reached his desk and the phone. "Well, find them both. We'll discuss the best option while we're waiting on the pizza."

ONE HOUR LATER

Harm answered the door, but Mac quickly came up behind him. "I said that it was my treat," Mac said as she pulled her wallet from her purse.

While Mac pulled some cash out of her wallet, the delivering boy turned the pizza over to Harm, who took it to the dining room table and set the box down before going to the refrigerator to get them something to drink.

Eyeing the cold beer in his fridge, he thought a second longer and opted to pick out two sodas that he now made sure that he had on hand in case Mattie came to visit.

By the time Harm got to the table with plates and the drinks, Mac was already a bite or two into her first slice of pizza.

She swallowed her current mouthful as Harm put a plate down in front of her. "Hungry?"

"I didn't know how hungry until I got a whiff of it when you took it from the delivery guy."

Harm just smiled at her, making her heart race again. This evening wasn't turning out to be the mundane working dinner that she'd thought it was going to be. In fact, this evening was mirroring another working dinner that they'd once had before serving as counsel at the tribunal. Harm was staring at her again, so when Mac felt the smile that remembering that evening brought forth, she kept it from appearing by taking another bite of her pizza.

The conversation while eating their late dinner was comfortable, but they really weren't talking about anything important. They were talking about odd things like the weather, the upcoming Superbowl and other generic topics of conversation.

It was when dinner was over that things got interesting. Mac wiped the corners of her mouth with a napkin. "That was exactly what I needed...brain food."

"Pizza is _not_ brain food. I'll tell you what. We've been working hard on this case, and the trial doesn't start until Monday."

"Yes, and today's Thursday."

"I know that. I was going to say that we should call it a night. You can come over tomorrow night, and I'll cook you a dinner that consists of real brain food. After dinner, we can work on the case and, if we need to, we can work on it all night, hell, the whole weekend if we think that's what we need to do to be ready."

"We just had that dinner that we talked about two weeks ago, and you're already asking me to spend the night or weekend?" The look on Harm's face was priceless. She'd rendered him speechless again. "I like it when you can't talk." She couldn't help but let a soft chuckle escape her mouth. "Let me get my coat. I'll see you tomorrow."

Harm was at a loss for words, not because he couldn't think of something to say, but rather he didn't know if he was supposed to return her flirtatious banter. He didn't want her taking his innuendo as trying to push her into something if she wasn't ready, so he found it easier to just let her think that she'd left him speechless. If she knew what he was thinking, she'd blush. He really did need operating instructions for this Marine.

Mac smiled, thinking that she'd gotten the better of Harmon Rabb again as she picked up her coat and made her way to the door. "If we're going over this stuff again tomorrow evening, I'll just leave my notes and things here, too."

"Yeah, that's fine," Harm choked out, still trying to get his vision of her spending the night or weekend out of his head. At least, he was recovering some. He'd made it over to the door to help her with her coat.

Mac's eye caught sight of the pizza box on the table. She knew that she was probably pushing her luck, but leaving Harm with his mouth open without any words coming out as she was leaving would give her pleasant dreams tonight.

"We had dinner, and I didn't get you to tell me how you make a Marine speechless."

"It works only if you're the Marine."

"So it won't work on General Cresswell?" she asks while fixing the collar of her coat, trying to make it lay flat.

"Maybe if you did it, but I'm not doing it to him."

Mac's curiosity had been peaked. "So tell me how?"

"I'd have to show you, and I don't think it's the best time to do that." Harm's mind was in overdrive. Technically, he didn't know if it would leave her speechless or not...though it always did in his dreams.

"Oh, it works only if it's a surprise attack, but if I'm expecting it...so you can't make it work." Mac laughed.

And now she'd thrown down a challenge. He couldn't walk away when the gauntlet had been thrown, could he? But should he risk it? Her laugh sealed her fate.

He stepped in closer to her. His arms snaked around her waist as his lips came to hers. Mac was frozen in place.

A few moments later, his lips left hers. He returned one arm to his side and reached for the doorknob with the other, noticing that her hands where still on her collar where she'd been fiddling with it before he'd kissed her. There was also a certain dazed look in her eyes.

"Thanks for coming by to work on the case ... and any time you'd like for me to leave you speechless, just let me know ... but in case there is a next time, I should let you know that it works better if you put your arms around me, too," Harm said with pride in his voice and a full blown 'flyboy' smile on his face.

Mac was in a daze. He'd just kissed her. It hadn't been just a kiss of friendship either. No, his soft full lips against hers had been tentative at first, but tender and loving a moment later, and then it was over.

Mac heard his words, even in her dazed state and nodded an affirmative response as she walked out of his apartment and towards the elevator.

Harm closed the door behind her. 'That's how you leave a Marine speechless...well, at least my Marine,' he thought. He wondered if he'd get the chance to kiss her like that a second time.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Thanks for the wonderful reviews. I've had a rough week and it does my heart good. I have written stories with a crime resolved by the end, but this wasn't one of them. This story was designed to be a one shot piece to answer a challenge at another board, but a sequel was requested so I wrote this part. Sorry, to all those who wished the case was going to unfold.

How To Make A Marine Speechless - Part 2

Harm had decided that same night that the kiss had happened that, if Mac brought up the kiss, they'd talk about it. If she didn't mention it, then he wouldn't say anything about it either. They had a trial to concentrate on at the moment.

Consequently, the kiss hadn't been brought up by either of them over the course of that trial preparation weekend at Harm's apartment or during the first week of the trial. However, that was about to change.

It was the middle of the second week of the trial. They'd concluded the prosecution's case only this morning, but, that afternoon, they'd been dealt a blow to their case by the defense's first witness, a Marine, Major Samantha Jones. Thank goodness the time of the day had caused the judge to call for an adjournment for the day after her testimony had been given. It gave them time to come up with a cross examination strategy to overcome it. Harm and Mac had agreed to discuss strategy at her apartment at 1800. Harm was going to go home and change, and then stop and pick up dinner on his way to her place. Mac had reminded him that it was his turn to buy.

They were sitting at her dining table. The Chinese food take-out cartons, pushed to one end of the table, gave them room to work. They'd finished eating only a few minutes ago, so their strategy session was just getting underway.

"You should do the cross of the major in the morning," Mac said off the cuff.

"Why? The colonel scared of a little ole major?" Harm teased.

"No, because if the cross isn't going well, you can use your trick to make her speechless." Mac was sorry that she'd said it the moment it came out of her mouth. She'd told herself that the kiss was just his way of getting back at her for making him lose his train of thought a couple of times. He hadn't really meant it, had he? The 'had he?' part had caused her to mind to dwell on the kiss daily since it had happened.

"I told you that I don't know if it works on every Marine. I just know that it works on you."

Harm was trying not to dodge the subject, but he didn't want to talk about it now, either. He still didn't know if she'd ever let him kiss her again and he was, quite frankly, not sure that he could handle hearing that it had been their last kiss.

"Has it ever worked on anyone else?" Why had she asked that? She didn't really want to know that. She wanted to know if he was currently trying to render any other woman speechless with his kiss.

"I don't think so, but then, I don't kiss you the same way I've ever kissed anyone else."

"You don't? How is it different?"

Okay, this was the discomfort that Harm had been trying to avoid. He didn't want to tell her that it was because he felt differently about her than he'd felt about any other woman. "It just is." That made him sound like he was five, he thought.

"Harm, I want to know how it's different...please?" She sounded like she was begging.

"Because I feel differently about you. Now, let's get back to the case. After the trial, I'll answer your questions."

"Why can't you answer me now?"

"Because the answers could change nothing or everything. I don't know if I can focus on the task at hand, putting Hanson away for murder, no matter how the conversation goes."

"But we will talk?" she asked, just to make sure that he wouldn't put her off forever.

To put her worries at ease so she could concentrate he said, "I promise. The day we get a verdict, I'll make you dinner at my place and I'll explain."

"Okay, since you promised," Mac said, sounding unconvinced that she'd ever hear the answer.

"Now, I think you should cross examine Major Jones," Harm said, wanting to put an end to the discomfort of the last couple of minutes.

THREE HOURS LATER

Mac had let the subject of their kiss go, but it had been in the back of her mind the entire time that they'd been discussing the case.

Mac hadn't taken the time to think about how much she was enjoying working this closely with Harm again ... well, not until tonight. Now they were standing near the door, and he was about to leave. She didn't want him to go. It was a feeling that was different from any other she'd ever felt. It wasn't that she didn't want to be alone. It was that she didn't want him to go. She wanted him to stay because she wanted him to be with her. It may not have sounded different to anyone else, but it felt different.

Harm had put on his coat and had turned to open the door, but turned back around to say something. "Mac, let's meet at the office thirty minutes early. We'll go over our plan one more time right before court to make sure that it sounds as good after sleeping on it as it sounds tonight."

Mac didn't answer him. Instead, she stepped up to him, the palms of her hands making contact with his chest before ascending up around his neck and putting her lips against his.

Harm didn't know what to do, but he wasn't going to let the opportunity to kiss her go to waste or risk her taking his lack of participation as rejection, so his arms wrapped around her waist, and he pulled her into him a little closer. When her body was firmly against his, the kiss deepened, and her tongue wrestled with his in his mouth.

The kiss ended in a romantic slowing. First, tongues in one's own mouths, grips on each other relaxing, lips separating, and then Mac took a step back. "A kiss for luck," Mac said.

It was Harm's turn to leave an apartment, shaking his head without a word and in disbelief. What had she done that for? Was she testing him? Trying out a theory of her own? Why would she kiss him? Why would she kiss him like that...with meaning and emotion? He needed to forget about the kiss until after this trial, and then they'd talk about both kisses.

The trial had lasted another ten days, but, at the end of the three week trial, the verdict had come in. They'd done it. The verdict had been guilty on all counts.

True to his word, Harm was making dinner for Mac at his place that evening in celebration of their victory and to help ease them into a conversation that he wasn't sure that he was ready for, but had been putting off entirely too long.

They'd eaten dinner in relative silence. Mac had gone home and changed, and her red dress was clinging to the curves of her body. Harm couldn't think of any casual dinner conversation. The only question that kept coming into his mind was 'why did you wear that dress?'

For Mac's part, she was having a similar problem. Harm was in a pair of dark gray slacks and a light blue-gray pullover sweater. He looked more handsome than ever. She'd dressed up. She was hoping that this was going to be an occasion to remember and she didn't want him to remember her in old ratty jeans and a top. She wondered if his choice in clothing had the same rationale behind it as her outfit.

Once dinner was over, they moved to the couch, each wondering how to start the conversation that they needed to have.

Mac began with the case. "You were great at cross examining Major Jones. I think that's really what won the members over."

"Thank you, but I don't think I could've done it without that good luck kiss that you'd given me the night before," Harm responded.

"About that...I know that I shouldn't have done it."

"Oh, so you didn't mean to kiss me?" They'd just started this conversation, and he was already wishing that it was over.

"I meant to kiss you. I wanted to kiss you. I just don't think that my motive for kissing you made the best sense," Mac explained.

"I thought that your motive was to wish me luck," Harm said.

"Yeah, that, too, but there was more to it," Mac said, looking away.

"Tell me what the rest of the reason was," Harm said in response.

"I thought I was here tonight for you to tell me why kissing me is different, not for you to give me the third degree," Mac responded.

"Please, answer my question," Harm said softly.

There was something about the way he was looking at her that made her answer him. "Fine, I wanted to kiss you because I wanted you to kiss me. I wanted to feel like I did a couple of weeks before that...speechless." Mac sighed. "I guess it doesn't work when I kiss you." Mac's shoulders slumped in defeat, and her eyes dropped to stare at her clasped hands in her own lap. Harm had gotten her to tell him what she felt, but she hadn't gotten her answer.

"Mac..." She didn't look up. "Mac..." She still didn't respond. Harm slipped his index finger under her chin and lifted it until their eyes met. "Mac, I kiss you differently because I feel differently about you than I have for any other woman. I'd like to kiss you speechless every opportunity I get for a long time to come."

"Kiss me now," Mac's said in a shaky voice, her words cutting off the possibility of

where this conversation could lead them.

"I plan to kiss only you from now on," Harm said, trying to clarify what he meant.

Tears threatened to fall from Mac's eyes, but they had no time to before Harm's lips came to hers in a sweet kiss that lasted only a few seconds before his lips were gone from hers.

"It's different when I kiss you, Mac, because I love you."

The next thing Harm knew, Mac's lips were on his in a kiss filled with hope for them and of the passion that had long been simmering between them.

This time when their lips parted, they were both speechless for a moment, but Harm found his voice first.

"Was that kiss to say good luck in the future or were you saying that you think that we can talk about there being an 'us' after all this time?"

"I say we consider tonight as our first date," Mac responded.

"Oh, no you don't. You're not going to call this our first date." Mac looked confused by his reaction to this being their first date until the rest of his words reached her ears. "I can see it all now. You'll be telling our children that you had their daddy declaring his love for you on the first date."

"Our children...?"

"Yes. Don't look at me like that. I remember your condition, but what were the odds that you'd get me to tell you that I loved you or having me talking about marriage and children? Those two things happened, so I'm sure that we'll be able to overcome the odds of us conceiving, too."

"Harm, I love you."

This time, Harm's lips came to hers. The kiss that they shared this time was tender and loving and soul reaching.

When their lips parted, it wasn't so much that they were speechless as it was that they didn't want to break the moment. They wanted the moment frozen to savor the time in their lives when they'd exchanged kisses and declared their love.

After a few minutes, they knew that they had things that they needed to discuss, old hurts to work through, but it was too heavy a conversation for tonight. After all, it was only their first date, and it was Valentine's Day.

EIGHT YEARS LATER

RABB HOME  
MASTER BEDROOM

Mac is putting on a pair of earrings while debating which shoes she wants to wear with her dress to dinner while their five-year-old daughter and their three-year-old son are watching from their perch on their parents' bed.

"Why are you and Daddy going out on a date?"

"Because it's our wedding anniversary, and we want to celebrate the night that we decided that we wanted to be together and have you and your brother," Mac answered her daughter.

"Did you know you loved Daddy before you got married?"

Mac sits next to her daughter on the bed. "I loved your Daddy from the start, but our lives had been so different that we didn't think that we could make a marriage work, but eight years ago tonight, Daddy told me that he loved me. Over the next year, we talked about why we didn't think it would work and how we could overcome those things to make it work. Seven years ago today, we got married, and then, ten months later, we had you. Now that you've heard that story for the millionth time, Momma needs to hurry up and decide on which shoes she's going to wear, because Daddy will be ready to go any minute."

Mac hugged and kissed both of their children before slipping on a pair of shoes. "You two be good for your grandma tonight, okay?"

Her children nodded in the affirmative, and Mac smiled. She and Harm had overcome the odds, though with a little medical help, but they had two beautiful children, and she loved them dearly.

Harm appeared in the doorway to their bedroom. "Grandma's here," he announced, and the children jumped off the bed and were gone in a second.

"You look beautiful," Harm complimented.

"I was hoping that the dress would leave you speechless like you've left me every Valentine's Day for the last eight years," Mac commented.

"Before the end of the night, you'll have dazzled me with your beauty, swayed me with your charms, left me speechless at least once, and breathless more times than I can count," Harm replied.

Mac's lips came to his in a short, sweet kiss. When their lips parted, she said, "I'm ready."

"Then let's go have the first date of our next year together."

THE END


End file.
